Noriega's No Pacifist

Noriega: He's no pussy (photo by John Anderson)

Which shouldn't be surprise. After all, he's a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard. But, just to clarify …

I sat in the audience today at a taping of KLRU's Texas Monthly Talks, wherein TexMo's Evan Smith interviewed Houston state Rep. Rick Noriega, the Democratic challenger to Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn.

At one point, Smith questioned Noriega about whether he supported presidential candidate Barack Obama's position that, if Pakistani forces knew of Osama bin Laden's position in Pakistan and were "unable or unwilling" to go get him, then the U.S. would strike inside Pakistan, invited or not. Noriega said absolutely. "Without blinking an eye," Noriega said.

After the taping, when Smith asked if the audience had any questions, I pressed Noriega further on the point. Given that our invasion of Iraq is blamed for inflaming anti-American passions in the Middle East, I asked, would it really be a good idea to encroach into yet another country unbidden – and possibly make it harder for a pro-U.S. government to maintain power?

Noriega replied that military force is only one slice of the war on terror, and listed other options such as building up schools and infrastructure that would support the rise of moderate Islam in the region. However, he said, "the sword is still part of the options," and that it was too important to go after "the men who killed all those families in New York."

Texas Monthly Talks' interview with Noriega will air on KLRU (channel 18, cable channel 9) on Oct. 23 at 7pm. On Tuesday, Smith will sit down and do a similar interview with Cornyn.

And speaking of KLRU and the Senate race, don't think tonight's presidential debate was the end of televised candidate sparring – Noriega and Cornyn will face off tomorrow (Thursday) night on KLRU (and other Texas public television stations) at 8pm. (For you Time Warner Cable subscribers, the debate will also be shown one channel down on News 8 Austin.)